Autumn Statement Resolutions

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Monday 27th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall) (Lab/Co-op)]

Just listening to some of the comments from right hon. and hon. Members, we could be forced to think we were living in a different Britain. I think about the emails I receive from constituents who are struggling and crying out for the Government to help. I think about the people worried about the changes to their benefits—people who through no fault of their own cannot work—and yet the Government say, “If you do not work, you will lose your benefits.” Even trying to get through to the Department for Work and Pensions is a struggle and a challenge for a number of those people. I hope that, in introducing the proposals in this autumn statement, the Government think about how we care for the most vulnerable in society.

This autumn statement marks just over a year since the disastrous mini-Budget, and we can all remember that. When so many people in the UK were struggling, the then Prime Minister thought that the best thing to do was to lift bonuses for bankers and give tax cuts to the rich. When so many were just trying to get their feet back on the ground after covid, we saw tax cuts being awarded to some of the richest in our country. That is not how we should be responding. The current Prime Minister is trying to say that he represents change, but this autumn statement is a watered-down version of the same flawed priorities that are failing my constituents and others right across the country. As a result, my constituents are paying a lot more of their hard-earned money simply to put food on the table.

I visited one of our food banks in Waterloo, just across the bridge from here, which is busy every day. A few weeks ago, the owner of that food bank, Bishop John Francis and I visited St George’s cathedral, which has opened a food pantry. We need those services now, because people—including even those who are in work—are struggling to buy the basic things. The terminology “in-work poverty” should shame us. These people are working, yet they cannot make ends meet. Sadly, that is nothing new.

The fact is that for the past 13 years, my constituents and many across the country have been let down badly. Their local services have been cut to the bone, waiting times across our hospitals are out of control, and their wages are growing nine times slower than they were under the last Labour Government. They have been let down because this Government’s priorities are not the country’s priorities. This Government’s priority seems to be them and their friends, and that is sad. It is no wonder that so many people feel disillusioned with politics and think we do not care about their everyday issues.

I think about those people who come to my advice surgery begging for help and asking if the Government will listen to their claims and fund local councils so that basic services can be restored. When I was growing up, those services were there to help people, but they have now been decimated. Actions speak louder than words, and for proof of that we need only look at who the Prime Minister has brought back in. The key architect of the austerity measures is now back at the heart of Government. That shows that nothing has changed.

My constituents have been waiting far too long, and sadly this Government have shown time and again that they will not change and will not listen to people’s concerns. People are coming to us as their MPs to talk about their priorities, and it is important that we make sure those changes happen. Those priorities include building the homes required; ending zero-hours contracts so that people can have decency and a fulfilling job; ensuring that women can go back into the labour market with affordable childcare; and building affordable homes, as opposed to homes that no one can afford to buy. This Government say they will end no-fault eviction, yet at every opportunity they move the goalposts. People are being demonised just for their sexuality, yet the Government say, “We do not care.” I hope that the Government will listen and change, and recognise that this autumn statement does not help people in Vauxhall and across the country. The only thing that will help those people is a general election and a new Government.

Oral Answers to Questions

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Monday 24th April 2023 Commons Chamber

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall) (Lab/Co-op)]

2. What steps he is taking to help increase the future employment and earnings potential of people receiving social security benefits.

[The Minister for Employment (Guy Opperman)]

We have comprehensive support in place to help Department for Work and Pensions claimants to secure, stay and succeed in work, including in-work progression, youth hubs and targeted support for people of all ages. In addition, there is a comprehensive package in the Budget to assist each and every one.

[Florence Eshalomi]

I thank the Minister for his response. My constituents in Vauxhall have seen food prices go up by nearly 20%, their household bills go through the roof, and their already high rents going up, in some cases by up to 16.5%. That is while real-terms pay has been falling for 18 months. How does the Minister propose to give workers in Vauxhall, and those on benefits, a real pay rise?

[Guy Opperman]

A whole host of things are being done on in-work progression. More importantly, vacancies have fallen for nine successive quarters, employment is up, the claimant count is down, economic inactivity has fallen, and disability employment is up. All those things are helping the hon. Lady’s constituents, and all other constituents up and down the country.

Health and Disability White Paper

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Thursday 16th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Tom Pursglove]

My hon. Friend hits the nail on the head about what we are trying to achieve with these reforms. He is a passionate campaigner for employment opportunities in Workington, and has had considerable success in that regard during his time in this House. I appreciate his welcoming the reforms, which are about helping people to achieve their aspirations. If work is something that people want to do, Government ought not to put barriers in place to prevent that. That is precisely what we are determined to do away with.

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall) (Lab/Co-op)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova) for asking this important urgent question.

The sanctions do not work. Measures to tackle disability employment gaps are way overdue, and I pay tribute to many groups across Vauxhall, including Autism Voice in Clapham, which I recently visited. They do a lot of work to try to help disabled people back into the work market but, sadly, the employment gap is still there. Many employers discriminate and are not prepared to give disabled people an opportunity, because of the widespread perception that disabled people are less capable, regardless of whether they are the best candidate. What are the Government are doing to tackle negative attitudes about disabled people, which are preventing many of them from fulfilling the opportunities that they should be taking?

[Tom Pursglove]

The hon. Lady is right to raise this issue. We all have a duty and a responsibility to be brilliant advocates and allies of disabled people, promoting opportunities for them at every turn. I expect that we will be in a position to say more about autism specifically over the coming weeks—something that I feel very passionately about as Minister for Disabled People. We are doing work on perceptions, and there is more work to be done over the coming months. We have a campaign that I expect to come to fruition in the not-too-distant future. I want to see more employers sign up to schemes such as Disability Confident. There is more to do, although we have seen real strides forward, with 1 million more disabled people in employment achieved five years early, but we must take the next steps forward. There is so much untapped potential from people who can contribute and offer so much to their workplaces.

Oral Answers to Questions

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Monday 21st March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Mims Davies]

The Phabulous Café is exactly what its name says. I welcome my hon. Friend to her place, as this is my first time responding to her. Support for small charities exists in the form of the work with the Regional Stakeholder Network, which provides charities with a platform to influence policies that directly impact the lives of disabled people. Through the RSN, support is provided for small charities by helping them to navigate the often difficult process of accessing public sector grants and contracts. I am keen to see the Phabulous Café in action soon.

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall) (Lab/Co-op)]

11. What steps she is taking to help people with childcare costs to move from universal credit into work.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (David Rutley)]

To support people to become financially resilient by moving into work and progressing in employment, eligible UC claimants can claim back up to 85% of their registered childcare costs each month regardless of the number of hours they work, compared with 70% in tax credits.

[Florence Eshalomi]

Today is national Single Parents’ Day, a day on which I remember my late mum and everything she did to raise me and my sisters. Many single parents in Vauxhall struggling on universal credit find it impossible to pay up front for childcare, because universal credit pays them in arrears. How can the Minister justify forcing universal credit claimants to pay money that they simply do not have for childcare while parents receiving tax-free childcare receive that funding immediately?

[David Rutley]

The hon. Member makes an important point, and I also pay respect to her mum and to single parents across the UK on today of all days. I thoroughly recommend that her constituents go to the jobcentre and see the work coaches, because a flexible support fund is available that can help to take care of up-front payments for childcare. I would gladly talk to her about that afterwards if she needs further direction.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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Thursday 24th February 2022 Westminster Hall

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Stringer. I normally speak before the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), so it is an honour to follow him this afternoon. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Motherwell and Wishaw (Marion Fellows) for drawing attention to this important topic. I want to commend her and my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova) for ensuring that this issue is always at the forefront of their campaigning, and for giving a voice to many constituents across our respective constituencies. In these two Members of Parliament we see fantastic champions for disabled people.

As we know, the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities was a landmark treaty, signed in 2007. It places a positive obligation on Governments to promote the full equality of disabled people under the law. It is fantastic that over 200 countries recognise the convention. However, I want to take a moment to reflect on what it says about the place of disabled people in society, both here and abroad, that we even need to state that disabled people are fully equal citizens. Surely that is so obvious that it should not need to be said, but too often we see disabled people and accessibility treated as an afterthought. Often it is not conscious discrimination, but a reflection of how much society is built around those who are not disabled.

I confess that I was not fully aware of the scale of the issue until a wheelchair user joined my team. Walking around with him, even in this place, I have seen at first hand the small everyday things that he is disadvantaged by: a dropped kerb on the side of the road that is not matched by the one on the other side, public venues that do not have a disabled toilet, and light switches that are placed far too high for him to reach. I could go on, but my point is that disabled people simply should not have to put up with workaround solutions to simple everyday activities, such as turning on lights. These are things that, if we are honest, most of us in this room take for granted.

Sadly, I have heard from several constituents in Vauxhall who have invisible disabilities, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or dyspraxia, who are afraid to speak out and ask for the support they need in the workplace for fear of being judged. These experiences are replicated for millions of people up and down the country who do not have their access needs met. It will not change until we start to take the UN convention’s words seriously and proactively consider accessibility in the planning, design and organisation of everything we do—it must be front and centre. By fixing problems with a sticking-plaster here and there, we will never truly live up to our UN obligations.

Any of us could become disabled at any time, so prioritising access future-proofs all of us and enables the valued perspectives of disabled people to be heard. Will the Minister please ensure that accessibility is no longer treated as an afterthought, and work on a cross-party basis to deliver the transformative change that disabled people need and deserve?

Disability Benefits Assessments

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Tuesday 1st February 2022 Westminster Hall

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir Gary. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova) for securing this really important debate and for her powerful opening words.

In June last year, I held a virtual roundtable with disabled constituents and organisations from Vauxhall, which the Minister’s predecessor attended. At that meeting, my disabled constituents powerfully relayed a range of experiences of navigating the benefit system. Their testimony has certainly stayed with me. Listening to them speak, it was clear to me that the system is not fit for purpose and that disabled people simply do not trust the DWP to understand their lived experience. They spoke of a welfare system that was too focused on what disabled people cannot do, and not on what they can do. They said that the system was accusatory and uncompassionate, and the application process too difficult to navigate. They made it clear that they did not feel that the assessments were based on their needs; instead, the assessments felt like exams that had the power to alter their life.

At that meeting, the Minister’s predecessor said that he understood the need for change, but when I followed up in writing to pass on a number of suggestions from my Vauxhall constituents, I received no response. Warm words are not enough; disabled people need action. Ministers need to grasp how important these problems are for disabled people, and how complicated it is for them to navigate the benefit system.

Shamefully, disability is often a barrier to economic empowerment, because so many parts of our society remain fundamentally inaccessible. The result is that 42% of families that need disability benefits are in poverty. Many of them belong to the poorest and most vulnerable groups in our society. However, the PIP statistics from October 2020 for my constituency of Vauxhall show that 26% of claimants had their welfare entitlement reduced, and a further 32% had their applications dismissed altogether. At a time of hardship and pandemic, when so many disabled people have faced difficulties and have had to go without essential care and support, those numbers are staggering. They represent disabled people being abandoned by the DWP when they needed assistance the most. They also symbolise a benefit system that is broken.

I am encouraged to hear that the Government will propose concrete changes in a White Paper that is based on the responses to the Green Paper. However, given the many delays and disappointments that my disabled constituents have experienced at the hands of this Government, I can understand why they doubt that those changes will ever come. Will the Minister guarantee that further proposals in this area will be co-produced with disabled people who use the benefit system? Will she guarantee that the system will provide people with a stable income that is sufficient to enable them to proactively empower themselves; that it will deliver equality by offering disabled people more independence, choice and control; and, crucially, that it will treat people on social security with dignity, fairness and respect at all times? By delivering on that, the Minister could finally start to rebuild disabled people’s broken trust in this Government.

Underpayment of Benefits: Compensation

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Thursday 13th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[David Rutley]

As I said right at the beginning, the hon. Gentleman has represented his constituent’s case well, as I would expect. We apologise unreservedly for the situation in which his constituent, Ms U, found herself. We will pay the compensation and the interest, as set out in the report. That will happen, and I very much hope we can get the apology over to her well before the month set out by the ombudsman. I will gladly discuss this further with the hon. Gentleman after this urgent question.

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman said in its judgment:

“It is human to make mistakes but not acting to right wrongs is a matter of policy choice.”

In this case the choice has been made by the very organisation that is responsible for supporting those most in need. Will the Minister please outline how many people in my Vauxhall constituency were impacted by underpayments? This decision has had a devastating impact by causing financial hardship for some of the most vulnerable people. They need that compensation now, so can he confirm that it will happen?

[David Rutley]

I understand the hon. Lady’s point. I genuinely do not know how many were in the Vauxhall constituency, as we do not have that level of data. As I set out, there are mechanisms that her constituents who might have concerns can follow up. We will formally respond to the report, as I set out.

Oral Answers to Questions

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Monday 8th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Will Quince]

The temporary UC standard allowance uplift was introduced to support those facing the most financial disruption due to the pandemic. Legacy benefits were uprated by CPI—the consumer prices index—last year and will be uprated again by CPI as part of the annual uprating exercise. Claimants on legacy benefits can make a claim for UC if they believe they will be better off. I encourage anybody to go on gov.uk and use one of the independent benefit calculators to check carefully their eligibility, because on applying for UC their entitlement to legacy benefit will cease.

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall) (Lab/Co-op)]

What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the financial effect of the covid-19 outbreak on disabled people and their carers.

[The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (Justin Tomlinson)]

Disabled people and their carers have access to the full range of social security benefits according to their circumstances. DWP Ministers and officials regularly discuss support for disabled people and carers with their counterparts across government, and recognise and value the vital contribution made by carers in supporting some of the most vulnerable in society.

[Florence Eshalomi [V]]

I thank the Minister for his answer. A recent survey of disabled people conducted by Inclusion London, a disability organisation based in my constituency, found that more than one in three disabled people had experienced a worsening financial situation during the lockdown, and recent research by Citizens Advice found that one in four disabled employees has faced redundancy since the pandemic started. We know that even before this pandemic, disabled people faced an employment gap of nearly 30% when compared with non-disabled workers. Will the Government commit to using the upcoming national disability strategy to bring forward comprehensive proposals to address the chronic employment insecurity that disabled people face in the wake of covid-19?

Income Tax (Charge)

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Thursday 4th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall) (Lab/Co-op) [V]]

There is much to welcome in the Chancellor’s Budget. The extension of the furlough scheme, the business rates holiday, his long overdue new support for the self-employed, and the £300 million for the culture recovery fund are a step in the right direction. These measures will help some of my constituents get through the next few months of this crisis, but what about the longer term? I wanted to see a Budget that puts us firmly on the road to recovery and rights the wrongs of the last decade by rebuilding our economic foundations, but this Budget just papers over the cracks with short-term giveaways.

There was no pay rise for the key workers who have cared for us through this pandemic, including the hard-working staff at St Thomas’ Hospital in my constituency, who cared so diligently for the Prime Minister when he was ill; no recovery plan for our NHS after a decade of cuts; no mention of schools or teachers, who have worked tirelessly to educate our children in such challenging circumstances; and no mention of help for the thousands of leaseholders paying extortionate costs for temporary safety measures while still living in unsafe buildings.

The Chancellor assumes that household spending will help fuel growth, but not everyone has managed to save through this pandemic. In September, unemployment will rise when furlough ends, and without the £20 uplift to universal credit the poorest households in my constituency in Vauxhall will be facing a significant fall in income in the second half of this year.

This Budget was full of missed opportunities. The pandemic has exposed structural vulnerabilities and inequalities, and this Budget was an opportunity to reflect on how our economy works, what we value most and what our priorities should be as we start to recover from this nightmare. The Chancellor missed an opportunity to help the co-operative movement in leading a recovery to a fairer and more inclusive economy. He should have shown real ambition by committing to double the size of the co-operative sector to help build a fairer and more resilient community.

This Budget offers none of the ambitions, values or vision that my constituents in Vauxhall had hoped for and needed to see, and it fails to answer some of the bigger questions about protecting household incomes and coping with the squeeze on our public services. The Chancellor had an opportunity to push the reset button with this Budget; he must explain why he did not take it.

Covid-19: Disability-Inclusive Response

Florence Eshalomi Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2020 Westminster Hall

[Florence Eshalomi (Vauxhall) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Rosindell, and I pay tribute to the hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron) for securing this important debate.

Data released by the Office for National Statistics in September shows that disabled people accounted for 59% of covid-related deaths in England and Wales between March and July when the pandemic was at its height. The disproportionality is staggering. In these circumstances, it is vital that our response to the pandemic ensures that people with disabilities continue to receive the services and support they need and that their rights are respected and enacted. Sadly, that has not been the case.

My constituent has severe cerebral palsy and is a wheelchair user. He occasionally needs help from his colleagues in the office for minor tasks, such as passing folders and opening doors. Until recently, he had been volunteering for a large national charity, working three to four days a week, on shifts, in a job that he loves and that he has been doing for the last four years. In August, he contacted me to say he was told by his manager not to return to work because he would put his colleagues at risk, because of the 2-metre social distancing rule. He said:

“I’m really upset… before February I did a shift every 72 hours with no problem and I have been banned ever since. My boss is holding on to this 2-metre rule for dear life and I really think she has misinterpreted the guidance. Her latest email suggests that the office could be made to shut down if the Government found out that my colleagues were passing me a folder… even though I have made suggestions as to how we can mitigate any risks, my boss says that I cannot 100% guarantee that I will not need close contact help”.

As hon. Members will know, under the Equality Act 2010, employers have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to remove disadvantages faced by disabled employees. The question of what is reasonable will always need to be assessed on an individual basis. In this case, help to maintain social distancing and to protect the health and safety of the workplace are relevant considerations. Will the Government provide greater clarity on how disabled workers can be protected from employers who, shamefully, are using the pandemic as a reason not to make reasonable adjustments in the workplace?

Covid-19 has pressed the reset button on so many of the things that we are doing, and on so many commonly-held assumptions and established ways of doing things. When so many practices are being challenged, it is time to implement a recovery plan that consults and proactively empowers disabled people, for the benefit of all of us.